Sunshine Psychiatric Institute
Built in 1963, the Sunshine Dementia Institute was a state of the art treatment center for Dementia. It was built by ManorCare and was owned and operated by Peter Lynch who envisioned it as part of a large city developing in South Blocks. The facility consisted of four wings of patient rooms located along a central hallway. Between the wings was a small common section and access in and out was via a small administrative section. The grounds were walled in and there were interior courtyards for patients to sit outside. The years that the institute operated were very disturbing for its staff who noticed refferences by patients of Invisible Ghost Like Monsters that wandered the grounds of the facility. The patients got much worse at the facility and few ever recovered citing torment by the strange phantom attackers. The staff were known to neglect the patients, forcing some into incontinence due to laziness in lifting them from wheelchair into toilet. Several patients died because of issues of caregivers not responding to life threatening ailments. The facility was eventually shut down by the local health department because of numerous maintainance issues and inadequate care After 1971, the Dementia Institute had discharged or transferred its last patients, and the site was temporarily closed due to its remote location, but over time the condition of the institute deteriorated to the point that reopening the site would be costly. After the facility's closure, the parking lot of the institute was used as a base camp for off roaders, and the canals alongside the 1.5 mile paved access road become a haven for freshwater fishermen. After 2013,, the Florida DEP Habitat Restoration Program had the road to the institute blocked, and the bridge across the tamiami canal cut off. The Institute was saved from demolition due to the fact that its land was owned by HCR ManorCare who refused to sell the land to the state, pending possible "usage payments for subsurface oil if drilling occurrs nearby". HCR ManorCare did agree to allow the state to block the access road for public safety purposes, and habitat restoration. Current Condition The Sunshine Psychiatric Institute is currently abandoned, and its access road blocked for wildlife habitat restoration and for the safety of the public. The whole property owned by HCR ManorCare is surrounded by a high chain link fence, and an highly visible no trespassing sign is visible at the end of the remnants of the access road. The site is still reachable by canoing up the canals along the old access road to a point approximately 1/2 mile from the structure. After climbing over a few concrete road blocks at that point, the road is still paved for the last half mile all the way to the locked gates of the complex. The building is still in fairly good condition as of May 2013 with some intact glass. Visiting Sunshine Mental Institute WIld Everglades Adventures, operated by long time hunter Leonard Chesser offers a "Swamp Ghosts" tour that is authorized by HCR ManorCare to visit and explore the site, otherwise, exploration of the site is strictly prohibited beyond the gates of the institute. It is still legal to go up to the gates if you remain on public land during State Park operating hours, but for all practical purposes, except for the extremely adventurous, public access is only to the stub of the road off US 41.